Hudson Co. Pharmacist Bribed Doctors, Committed Fraud, Feds Say

NEWARK, NJ – The owner of a now-shuttered West New York pharmacy faces charges after authorities say he ran a multimillion-dollar scheme involving healthcare fraud and illegal bribes to doctors.

Eduard Shtindler, 36, of Paramus, was arrested Friday following an investigation into operations at his former business, Empire Pharmacy, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Between 2012 and 2017, while Shtindler ran the pharmacy, he sought to entice doctors to use Empire for specialty medication prescriptions by trying to show them that they “received prior authorization approval more successfully than any other pharmacies,” according to Carpenito.

“To do that, he directed Empire employees, including two pharmacists, to repeatedly falsify prior authorization forms for medications for various conditions, including psoriasis and Hepatitis C,” Carpenito said.

As a result, Shtindler and Empire received approximately $2 million in reimbursement payments from Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance carriers that they otherwise would not have received, he said.

Additionally, Shtindler also participated in a conspiracy to pay bribes to a Hudson County-based psychiatrist, to convince the doctor to send prescriptions to Empire, Carpenito said.

In exchange for these bribes, the doctor steered patients to Empire pharmacy, even though the patients used other pharmacies closer to their homes for all of their other prescriptionS, he said.

Altogether, Empire dispensed approximately $3 million in medications prescribed by the psychiatrist, Carpenito said.

Shtindler was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to pay illegal kickbacks to a doctor, which carries a maximum penalty of five years behind bars. Both counts are also punishable by a $250,000 fine, authorities said.